Easton School District is a runaway train

TOWN SQUARE

The Easton Area School Board shown at a preliminary budget meeting at the… (Michael Kubel/Morning…)

April 23, 2012|Bill White

The Denzel Washington movie "Unstoppable" is based on the real case of an unattended runaway freight train full of toxic material. It hit speeds of up to 47 mph.

This train, which left the freight yard with no engineer at the controls, barreled through Ohio for hours before a daring railroad worker jumped on board from a crossing, climbed into the locomotive and pulled the brake.

For at least 20 years, the Easton Area School District has been the unstoppable runaway train of the Lehigh Valley, a great example of what happens when you combine some of the most rudderless, inept administrations and worst school boards imaginable. Saddled with crippling debt, an unsustainable teacher contract, nonexistent leadership, a collapsed economy and a governor who is lukewarm about public education, it has spent the last few years gobbling down its once healthy surplus, raising taxes, busting budgets and chopping educational programs.

A mostly new school board last Tuesday approved a preliminary budget that imposes the state-limit 2.2 percent tax increase and eats another $1.5 million of what's left of the surplus. It also could result in the district's cutting more than 40 teaching positions, 30 paraprofessionals and 10 maintenance positions.

A couple of board members argued for a zero percent increase, even if it means larger staff reductions and program cuts, pointing out that the administration overspent its budget by $3.3 million in 2010-2011 and that the district has been run in an unbusinesslike manner for years. They were overruled by the majority — sensibly, I thought — but I understood where they were coming from.

Light at the end of the tunnel? More like another oncoming train. Next year's projected deficit is $4 million, and it's expected to be between $7 million and $8 million the year after that. "That's a large ship [OK, between us we're mixing metaphors] to turn around," said board President Robert Fehnel, asking residents to understand what a monumental task the board faces.

"Easton Area School District is not a poor district," said Paxinosa Elementary teacher Deanne Lohman, one of the residents who spoke at Tuesday's meeting. "It is a district of poor choices." She got a rousing ovation when she finished.

Last year's budget crisis was addressed in part by getting the teachers union to agree to a one-year freeze and almost $29 million in contract concessions over the life of their contract. But it also extended it by two years and will continue to call for raises — 6 percent, 6.5 percent and 7 percent over the next three years — that are much higher than what the vast majority of us in the private sector have been getting.

I've attended many Easton meetings like last Tuesday's and written about the hopelessness of experiencing this disaster in the making. I haven't been there for a while, though, and what struck me this time were the repeated invocations of Michael Simonetta, the district's relatively new chief operating officer, as the person who will provide the expertise and leadership to jump on board and pull the brake.

Mr. Simonetta is targeting waste. Mr. Simonetta is finding new revenue. Mr. Simonetta is working wonders. What will we do if Mr. Simonetta packs his bags?

I called him afterward. What's it like to be the savior?

He laughed at that, acknowledging that some of the comments struck him the same way. "I appreciate the confidence and the support from the board members as far as me coming in," he said. "I have experience from almost 30 years doing these budgets in New Jersey. I like to think I can bring a lot of expertise with me."

He added, "I don't get as far ahead as people think I am without the support of the teachers, principals and central administration. It's not all Mike Simonetta, by any stretch. It's a team effort."

He says they're still looking for potential savings before the adoption of the final budget, which is expected to happen May 22, and that the job of tackling next year's deficit will begin May 23. "We're going to have to look at everything," he said.

Certainly Simonetta inspires more confidence than his inept predecessors — the district merged two jobs into his — and Superintendent Susan McGinley, the least dynamic school leader I've ever seen. But reversing the course of this runaway train won't happen because of just one person, however smart and experienced.

It will require a quantum leap in the levels of sacrifice, cooperation, common sense and leadership by everyone associated with the Easton Area School District.